3
156 appendix to repoet from select committee
Appendix, No. 3. Westmeath.
Homicides since 1848, inclusive, to present date.
1848.—John Cook, murdered in a field; an arrest, but no trial recorded.
James Flanagan, age 16, waylaid and murdered; no arrest.
Lowden M'Williams, soldier, died of a beating received one arrest, but bill
ignored.
1849.—James Curley, shot in his own house; an agrarian quarrel amongst relatives.
Martin and Denis Curley convicted, and sentenced to death; executed.
Pat Connor, gardener, was stabbed to death, for supposed fidelity to his master.
Jcrhn Rogers and Pat Quiglcy convicted, and sentenced to death. Sentence
subsequently commuted to transportation.
Thomas Flynn, shot dead while attempting to take possession of disputed pro¬
perty. William Vize, Esq., j.p., the gentleman in possession, tried and ac¬
quitted.
1850.—Poger North, Esq., j.p., shot dead near his own residence. He was about to
evict tenants; out of several persons arrested, three were arraigned at suc¬
cessive assizes, and trial posti^oned from time fo time. Two policemen sent to
jSTew York to endeavour to arrest Darley Daly, but failed.
1851.— James Carey, shot; verdict of wilful murder against James Kennj^, who was
arraigned at successive assizes, but trial postponed. At spring assizes, 1853, he
was finally discharged for warn, of evidence.
Walter Dyre, labourer, fatally assaulted while walking with a woman. The sup¬
posed assailant absconded.
1852. —In a dispute among robbers concerning the division of booty, a man named Mur-
tagh or Murdoch was shot dead, and buried in a bog. Some of the offenders
were convicted and transported.
Thomas Cooney, waylaid, robbed, and beaten to death ; the oiTender (Hugh
Lunney) arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death {i.e. in 1854).
John Lyons, labourer (a stranger who had obtained employment), beaten to
to death; two men arrested, but discharged for want of evidence.
Mich. Pegney, skull fractured from a blow of a stone, of which he died. This
was a drunken quarrel; seven were arrested, but as the actual offender could
not be ascertained, tliey were all discharged.
1853.—Tliomas Farrell. shot dead in his own house ; an agrarian outrage. Two arrests,
but discharged for want of evidence.
Thomas Kerry, beaten to death; a fruit of the Pibbon SocieiJ^ Two persons
arrested ; trial postponed, and final discharge in one case, acquittal in the other.
1856.—James Carey, beaten to death by three or four men who had attacked his son,
and to whose assistance he had come ; two men arrested, and convicted; two
years' imprisonment, with hard labour,
James Kerr, labourer, killed by the blow of a hammer on the head; offender
convicted ; 18 months' imprisonment, with hard labour,
Mrs. Sarah Kelly, a lady of immense wealth, shot d^ad while walking with her
nephew, Mr. George Stevens, in a field near her demesne. The nephew was
suspected, and tried at two successive Assizes, but finally discharged ; another
man was also tried on charge of conspiracy to murder, but finally discharged.
Owen McLaughlen, waylaid and beaten to death ; his son had replaced a discharged
farm servant. Two men arrested, and convicted in 1863, but sentence deferred,
awaiting decision of Court of Criminal Appeal; finally discharged by Chief
Baron Pigot at Spring Assizes, 1864.
1858.—Edward Kelly, respectable farmer, waylaid and shot dead ; he had taken some
land which another was anxious to get; some arrests were made, but 7io persons
were returned for trial.
iVIary Gavagan, labourer's wife, who lived on bad terms with her husband, was
found dead with skull fractured. Pat Coffey arrested ; trial postponed from
time to time ; Coffey Avas finally let out on bail at Spring Assizes, 1859, to appear
Mhen called on.
1859.—Thomas Jessop, farmer, shot dead ; he had taken a farm in connection with which
Edward Kelly had been shot (sec above) ; several arrests were made without
success.
Thomas Geraghty, labourer, was murdered and thrown into a bog hole ; a drunken
quarrel; two arrests and convictions; three years' penal servitude in each case.
Pat Lyons, labourer, died from injuries on the head inflicted by two navvies, who
Avere convicted and sentenced each to seven years' penal servitude.
James Boylan, labourer, died from a stab in the abdomen received when returning
from a funeral; offender sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, with hard
labour.
1859.—L awr ence
